How can a country, in the midst of an economic recession, -where its media glamorize designer fashions, luxury cars, and wealth manage to create citizens that place the education of their children in highest priority? This is a question that many teachers and administrators of low-income schools are faced with everyday. Poverty affects students and their peers, teachers, administrators, policy makers, and eventually, the entire country.
What Is Poverty?
Dictionary.com defines poverty as the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; the condition of being poor.
The United States Census Bureau classifies A single person that earns less than $10,890 annually and a family of four that earns less than $22,350 as poor.
The National Center for Education Statistics identifies poor students by their eligibility for free or reduced lunch program. Eligibility is based on the students' family meeting the income limits. A family of four that earns less than $28,665 will receive free lunch, whereas a family of four that earns less than $40,793 will receive reduced lunch.
According to Education Week, the “achievement gap” in education refers to the disparity in academic performance between groups of students. The achievement gap shows up in grades, standardized-test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college-completion rates, among other success measures. It is most often used to describe the troubling performance gaps between African-American and Hispanic students, at the lower end of the performance scale, and their non-Hispanic white peers, and the similar academic disparity between students from low-income families and those who are better off. In the past decade, though, scholars and policymakers have begun to focus increasing attention on other achievement gaps, such as those based on sex, English-language proficiency and learning disabilities.
Poverty's Effects on School
The complexity of poverty and the many sub-issues (i.e. homelessness, hunger, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, decreased graduation rate, and etc.) that are attached to the topic makes it such a difficult battle to win in a country that focuses strictly on improving test scores and adhering to tightly restricted policies. Educators must find ways to adapt to their schools' cultures to inspire, teach, and motivate their students.
It takes swift, dramatic improvement requires an encounter with the “brutal facts”– those awkward, unpleasant truths that organizations prefer not to address—or even talk about.
-M. Schmoker
Hope For the Hopeless
There are many experts that proclaim that it is entirely possible for educators to successfully create majority high achievers in poor schools. In Ruby Payne's A Framework for Understanding Poverty, she suggests that high achievement can be accomplished through establishing a rigorous curriculum, creating relevant lessons, and building strong relationships.
Payne also recommends that educators gaining the appropriate knowledge of how and why poor people think, and act the way they do. Then the educators will learn how to adapt to the environment. For example, the lack of parental participation from low income schools could be caused by inconvenient scheduling, lack of transportation, and no telephone or internet access. Once an educator becomes aware of the causes, then appropriate changes can be made to adapt to the school’s culture.
Additionally, Mike Schmoker explores specific factors that he views will close the achievement gap. Schmoker finds the solution in the radical transformation of literacy education and extensive preparation in college readiness. Schmoker recognizes the strong relationship between literacy and poverty, and believes that is the key factor in closing the achievement gap.
The Naysayers
However, some believe that it is impossible for students of impoverished backgrounds to ever truly succeed in the classroom. According to Patrick Welsh, schools can only try to educate their students that is all. They cannot expect their students to strive for high achievement status because the best that the children can do from low-income schools is exactly what they are doing. In other words, the argument here is that these schools are doing the best with what they have. The problem with this theory is that it does absolutely nothing to close the achievement gap. Therefore, it has no positive effect on the country.
Additionally, Welsh explores a common belief that if a low income school is renovated and upgraded with the best possible learning resources and latest technology that there will still be a significantly high number of failing students. As disheartening as this may sound, it only proves that there are multiple factors that play a part in the cause of low achievement in poor schools. Therefore, access to quality learning resources and new technology is a factor, but it is not the ultimate solution.
Furthermore, some argue that there is absolutely no solution or set of solutions that can overcome the negative effects of poverty on schools. In The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America,
Stephen Steinberg explores the culture and mentality of the poor and find several common factors that are shared regardless of geographical location. He argues that ethnicity is made up of class and social conditions more so than race. He also argues that America does not necessarily intend on solving the poverty problem, but instead aims to keep a class of people in financial slavery.
Trend or Issue?
While poverty in schools is an issue involving several factors of education, battling or overcoming this issue has become a recent trend due to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. NCLB forced many teacher's administrators, and superintendents to tackle the issue of poverty in order to have have a successful school. This issue will remain a trend as long as there is some kind of legislation in place to hold schools accountable for its failing students.
Furthermore, due to the country's recent economic state, the issue of poverty is becoming more relevant to the entire nation. According to authors Gregg Duncan and Richard Murnane in their article "Economic inequality: The Real Cause of the Urban School Problem", failing, low-income schools are a sole product of the country's failing economic system, They suggest that an economic transformation must be made in order to transform our schools.
Finally, the issue of poverty in schools is not just a question of how educators adapt to the culture of low income schools, but how these adaptations help to change the culture of the schools and ultimately the mentality and priorities of the poor. Schools should play a vital role in educating and transforming the mentality of impoverished people within their communities in order to transform the children within their schools.
Tips on Teaching Students in Poverty
Allow students access to higher-lever curriculum
Create assignments or homework that requires parental involvement or mentor involvement
Keep a stock of supplies and necessities
Create Relevant learning activities
Reach out to parents and make teachers, and administrators more accessible
The education and insurance of equal opportunities for all children is a dear passion to me. As a student and teacher of a low-income school, I have seen firsthand the effects of poverty on America's youth. After extensive research, it can sometimes seem overwhelming, as if there is no solution at all, but because I believe in the power of education, compassion, and determination. I am optimistic of the future state of low-income schools. This great transformation will take years, and maybe even decades, but it can be done, one school at a time.
Duncan, Gregg & Murnane,Richard. (2011). Economic Inequality: The Real Cause of the Urban School Problem. The Chicago Tribune. 06 October 2011. This article is represents the opinions of two professors, in which they explore the idea that America’s declining economic state is the primary blame for failing, poor schools, as opposed to leadership, teacher effectiveness, and parental involvement.
Education Week(2011). Achievement Gap. www.edweek.org. This article explains what the achievement gap is and explores the current policies that are in places to close the gap. The article also takes a deeper look into the No Child Left Behind Act.
Hernandez, D.J.,( 2011). “Double Jeopardy: How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation,” Annie E. Casey Foundation.
This case study reports the significant connection between students' reading levels and high school graduation. The findings from this research strongly suggests that students with higher reading levels are more likely to graduate from high school.
Payne, Ruby. (2005). A Framework for Understanding Poverty. Highlands, TX: aha! Process. This book is an informational text that explores the culture of poverty and the necessary teaching techniques geared specifically for poor students that are claimed to create high academic achievers. She promotes professional development training for all teachers and administrators of low-income schools in order to create a learning environment that is supportive for the poor child. She also suggests several strategies that promote success in low-income schools.
Redeaux, Monique. (2011). The Culture of Poverty Reloaded. Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine 63 (3) 96-102. This article explores the manipulation and control of minority students by educators in power and also the underrepresentation of minority teachers in America’s classrooms. The author also criticizes author and educator, Ruby Payne for basing her reasons for the underachievement in the education of minorities as stereotypical.
Schmoker, Mike.(2012). Can Schools Close the Gap? Phi Delta Kappan 93 (7): 70-71. The article examines how school achievement plays a vital role in closing the achievement gap. . The author also explores the influence of curriculum focused on reading, writing, and college readiness.
Steinberg, Stephen.(2001). The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America. Boston: Beacon Press. This book explores the reason of common traits and characteristics of the poor. The author compares 20th century immigrants to modern-day African Americans. The author also compares slavery to unemployment and suggests that America is unwilling to create a country free from poverty.
Welsh, Patrick. (2010). Schools Can’t Manage Poverty. USA Today. 14 September 2010. This is an opinion piece in which the author expresses his disdain for the national school ranking system, in which schools can be labeled as failing. He explains that labeling schools as failing is unfair. He also points out that schools cannot solve the country’s social problem alone.
Overview
How can a country, in the midst of an economic recession, -where its media glamorize designer fashions, luxury cars, and wealth manage to create citizens that place the education of their children in highest priority? This is a question that many teachers and administrators of low-income schools are faced with everyday. Poverty affects students and their peers, teachers, administrators, policy makers, and eventually, the entire country.
What Is Poverty?
Dictionary.com defines poverty as the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; the condition of being poor.
The United States Census Bureau classifies A single person that earns less than $10,890 annually and a family of four that earns less than $22,350 as poor.
The National Center for Education Statistics identifies poor students by their eligibility for free or reduced lunch program. Eligibility is based on the students' family meeting the income limits. A family of four that earns less than $28,665 will receive free lunch, whereas a family of four that earns less than $40,793 will receive reduced lunch.
QUICK POVERTY FACTSThe Achievement Gap
According to Education Week, the “achievement gap” in education refers to the disparity in academic performance between groups of students. The achievement gap shows up in grades, standardized-test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college-completion rates, among other success measures. It is most often used to describe the troubling performance gaps between African-American and Hispanic students, at the lower end of the performance scale, and their non-Hispanic white peers, and the similar academic disparity between students from low-income families and those who are better off. In the past decade, though, scholars and policymakers have begun to focus increasing attention on other achievement gaps, such as those based on sex, English-language proficiency and learning disabilities.
Poverty's Effects on School
The complexity of poverty and the many sub-issues (i.e. homelessness, hunger, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, decreased graduation rate, and etc.) that are attached to the topic makes it such a difficult battle to win in a country that focuses strictly on improving test scores and adhering to tightly restricted policies. Educators must find ways to adapt to their schools' cultures to inspire, teach, and motivate their students.
It takes swift, dramatic improvement requires an encounter with the “brutal facts”– those awkward, unpleasant truths that organizations prefer not to address—or even talk about.
-M. Schmoker
Hope For the Hopeless
There are many experts that proclaim that it is entirely possible for educators to successfully create majority high achievers in poor schools. In Ruby Payne's A Framework for Understanding Poverty, she suggests that high achievement can be accomplished through establishing a rigorous curriculum, creating relevant lessons, and building strong relationships.
Payne also recommends that educators gaining the appropriate knowledge of how and why poor people think, and act the way they do. Then the educators will learn how to adapt to the environment. For example, the lack of parental participation from low income schools could be caused by inconvenient scheduling, lack of transportation, and no telephone or internet access. Once an educator becomes aware of the causes, then appropriate changes can be made to adapt to the school’s culture.
Additionally, Mike Schmoker explores specific factors that he views will close the achievement gap. Schmoker finds the solution in the radical transformation of literacy education and extensive preparation in college readiness. Schmoker recognizes the strong relationship between literacy and poverty, and believes that is the key factor in closing the achievement gap.
The Naysayers
However, some believe that it is impossible for students of impoverished backgrounds to ever truly succeed in the classroom. According to Patrick Welsh, schools can only try to educate their students that is all. They cannot expect their students to strive for high achievement status because the best that the children can do from low-income schools is exactly what they are doing. In other words, the argument here is that these schools are doing the best with what they have. The problem with this theory is that it does absolutely nothing to close the achievement gap. Therefore, it has no positive effect on the country.
Additionally, Welsh explores a common belief that if a low income school is renovated and upgraded with the best possible learning resources and latest technology that there will still be a significantly high number of failing students. As disheartening as this may sound, it only proves that there are multiple factors that play a part in the cause of low achievement in poor schools. Therefore, access to quality learning resources and new technology is a factor, but it is not the ultimate solution.
Furthermore, some argue that there is absolutely no solution or set of solutions that can overcome the negative effects of poverty on schools. In The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America,
Stephen Steinberg explores the culture and mentality of the poor and find several common factors that are shared regardless of geographical location. He argues that ethnicity is made up of class and social conditions more so than race. He also argues that America does not necessarily intend on solving the poverty problem, but instead aims to keep a class of people in financial slavery.
Trend or Issue?
While poverty in schools is an issue involving several factors of education, battling or overcoming this issue has become a recent trend due to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. NCLB forced many teacher's administrators, and superintendents to tackle the issue of poverty in order to have have a successful school. This issue will remain a trend as long as there is some kind of legislation in place to hold schools accountable for its failing students.
Furthermore, due to the country's recent economic state, the issue of poverty is becoming more relevant to the entire nation. According to authors Gregg Duncan and Richard Murnane in their article "Economic inequality: The Real Cause of the Urban School Problem", failing, low-income schools are a sole product of the country's failing economic system, They suggest that an economic transformation must be made in order to transform our schools.
Finally, the issue of poverty in schools is not just a question of how educators adapt to the culture of low income schools, but how these adaptations help to change the culture of the schools and ultimately the mentality and priorities of the poor. Schools should play a vital role in educating and transforming the mentality of impoverished people within their communities in order to transform the children within their schools.
Tips on Teaching Students in Poverty
Tiffani's Thoughts
The education and insurance of equal opportunities for all children is a dear passion to me. As a student and teacher of a low-income school, I have seen firsthand the effects of poverty on America's youth. After extensive research, it can sometimes seem overwhelming, as if there is no solution at all, but because I believe in the power of education, compassion, and determination. I am optimistic of the future state of low-income schools. This great transformation will take years, and maybe even decades, but it can be done, one school at a time.Proposal addressing this issue:
Trawick_EDCI 6158 Proposal.doc
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Annotated Bibliography
Duncan, Gregg & Murnane,Richard. (2011). Economic Inequality: The Real Cause of the Urban School Problem. The Chicago Tribune. 06 October 2011.This article is represents the opinions of two professors, in which they explore the idea that America’s declining economic state is the primary blame for failing, poor
schools, as opposed to leadership, teacher effectiveness, and parental involvement.
Education Week (2011). Achievement Gap. www.edweek.org.
This article explains what the achievement gap is and explores the current policies that are in places to close the gap. The article also takes a deeper look into the No Child Left Behind Act.
Hernandez, D.J.,( 2011). “Double Jeopardy: How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation,” Annie E. Casey Foundation.
This case study reports the significant connection between students' reading levels and high school graduation. The findings from this research strongly suggests that students with higher reading levels are more likely to graduate from high school.
Payne, Ruby. (2005). A Framework for Understanding Poverty. Highlands, TX: aha! Process.
This book is an informational text that explores the culture of poverty and the necessary teaching techniques geared specifically for poor students that are claimed to create high academic achievers. She promotes professional development training for all teachers and administrators of low-income schools in order to create a learning environment that is supportive for the poor child. She also suggests several strategies that promote success in low-income schools.
Redeaux, Monique. (2011). The Culture of Poverty Reloaded. Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine 63 (3) 96-102.
This article explores the manipulation and control of minority students by educators in power and also the underrepresentation of minority teachers in America’s classrooms. The author also criticizes author and educator, Ruby Payne for basing her reasons for the underachievement in the education of minorities as stereotypical.
Schmoker, Mike. (2012). Can Schools Close the Gap? Phi Delta Kappan 93 (7): 70-71.
The article examines how school achievement plays a vital role in closing the achievement gap. . The author also explores the influence of curriculum focused on
reading, writing, and college readiness.
Steinberg, Stephen. (2001). The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America. Boston: Beacon Press.
This book explores the reason of common traits and characteristics of the poor. The author compares 20th century immigrants to modern-day African Americans. The
author also compares slavery to unemployment and suggests that America is unwilling to create a country free from poverty.
Welsh, Patrick. (2010). Schools Can’t Manage Poverty. USA Today. 14 September 2010.
This is an opinion piece in which the author expresses his disdain for the national school ranking system, in which schools can be labeled as failing. He explains that
labeling schools as failing is unfair. He also points out that schools cannot solve the country’s social problem alone.